Week 7: Experiments

In Class:

Tonight we'll review a few basics of composition. Then you'll sketch three thumbnails of your specimen in preparation for your final project. There are no limits to how this can be composed. We'll review a few considerations of composition and leave time to discuss your sketches at the end of class. After class you will decide which of your sketches you will use as basis for your final project. 

For Next Week:

Bring color materials (water based paint of any kind, color pens or pencils, etc). We'll work with limited palettes and color contrasts to experiment with different backgrounds.

DUE NEXT WEEK:

3 sketches to be considered for your final project. These include the work you have produced in class (with related species or details; with some kind of background or landscape; and the third in any manner you wish).

Due Nov. 4th:

Your final project, approx 9x11, finished in color. If you are taking this course to earn your Peabody certificate, I highly recommend submitting work for this deadline so that you can get your grade and certificate asap. If you would like an extension, I will accept work until November 25th.

Review:

• balance (including symmetry,  asymmetry, and radial)

• emphasis (aka, visual weight or focal point)

• harmony (unity)

• movement 

• pattern and repetition (aka rhythm)

• proportion and position

as discussed in previous weeks, your composition might include:

• plant or animal's life cycle

• cross-sections

• magnified or related details, like parts of anatomy or dependent species

• ​the plant or animal's habitat

• a background of some kind, whether of social, historical, scientific, economic, symbolic, etc. significance